July 2011 - Posts

Counting cells under a microscope is old school. For many years, a glass hemacytometer etched with a grid (called a Neubauer ruling) and cover glass have been used. The grid and glass material provides a known area and depth. A simple formula yields the Read More...

An early physical exam included a test for color blindness. I was shown a book of dotted pictures with numbers “hidden” inside them (sometimes called Ishihara diagrams). If I could see all the numbers, my color vision was fine. If not, I would have to Read More...

Every time I watch Clean House and others like it I wonder how people are so disorganized. A team carts everything inside the house outside, sells a third in a yard sale, gives a third to charity, takes a third to the dump, and has three quarters left Read More...

When I considered approaching nursing about issues with point of care testing, a colleague advised, “Nurses are a cohesive and organized unit that, once aroused, will act as a group in a way that’s difficult to subdue and avoid. Tread carefully.” He’s Read More...

The power of narratives to reinforce values, inspire, and motivate can be shown if you start meetings with, “Does anyone have any stories?” It might be a child with cancer who needed blood drawn, a blood bank close call, or a nurse’s compassion for a Read More...

I’m sick of hearing about change. This is ironic, since I’m told I must change how I treat sick people. It started with an Institute of Medicine report a dozen years ago claiming unintentional medical errors kill a hundred thousand sick people every year, Read More...